Guest post by Molly Lieber, LMSW, MPH, Project Manager of the Division of Global Women’s Health in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science at The Mount Sinai Hospital.
Ann Marie Beddoe, MD, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science at The Mount Sinai Hospital.
Our Director, Dr. Ann Marie Beddoe, has traveled to Liberia, a small country in West Africa, for the past 9 years. With a focus on gynecologic oncology, Dr. Beddoe has been focused on the continuum of care for women with cancer. Specifically, she has worked to advocate for increased cervical cancer screening, trained local health care workers to diagnose and treat women with cancer, and has provided both chemotherapy and surgery to local patients.
To increase these efforts, Dr. Beddoe, Dr. Leigh Rosen, a senior resident, and I have been meeting with stakeholders in Liberia for the past week. We met with (1) the Minister of Health to finally bring a cancer center, specifically for women, to fruition, (2) the Liberian College of Physicians and Surgeons to strategize our collaboration in bringing OBGYN training to Liberian residents, and (3) the vaccination team at the Ministry of Health to facilitate their HPV vaccine rollout. 
With our few minutes of free time, we decided to visit an impoverished area of Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, called West Point. In recent news, West Point received attention because of the rapid spread of Ebola in this densely populated area where individuals lack access to quality sanitation and poverty abounds. Liberia, as a country, has faced devastation after two civil wars, which lasted fourteen years and just ended in 2003. After the country started to rebuild, they were one of three countries affected by Ebola outbreak, which killed roughly 5,000 people in Liberia alone.
Amid the many social challenges in West Point, like drug abuse, extreme poverty, and high crime, sex work by young girls has gained attention in the past 5 years. This population is at increased risk for women’s health problems like sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy and receive little to no women’s healthcare. As prostitution is illegal in most countries, including Liberia, women are ostracized from their communities and fear ramification for the nature of their work.
We were lucky to have a guide, Rich, who previously lived in West Point and was able to shed light on rampant sex work in the area. He told us that most of the prostitutes are very young girls, who are often high on drugs, and are paid very little. Rich introduced us to a community leader who works, informally, to help young girls escape prostitution. He told us sex workers receive little attention despite the high risk nature of their jobs and felt strongly that women’s healthcare was a necessary service to bring to this under-served and vulnerable population. We exchanged contact information, are researching local NGOs and organizations working in West Point, and plan to meet again with Rich upon our return to Liberia.
Follow Global Women’s Health on Instagram: @MountSinaiGlobalHealth.